As a part time aspiring journo, I have a different view to many in government, as to transparency both in and out of meetings, and with it, media management issues.
Many would argue that the days of government, for the people, by the people has long disappeared, to be replaced by government for the government by the government. One of the sure symptoms of self serving governance, comes when the press or the community start to struggle to find out what is really happening inside the government, a government that is meant to be fully transparent and serving, not just ruling the people.
When elected to Douglas, I was gob smacked by what was really happening either behind the scenes, or once the press had left the room. It seems in Australia, there has been a convenient alignment of the bureaucracy and those elected to keep a lid on certain worm cans. I am no fan of this tendency.
Once within the DSC, I moved a series on motions to have meetings recorded so that the press and the public would have access to what was said either through recordings on the net, or purchased at cost, on disk. I can’t even recall the number of times I had to return the issue to the table, to make recordings publicly available and I have to admit that the bureaucracy has been a lot more successful in keeping recordings unheard, than I have been getting recordings released. I am of the view, that what is said in an open government should be held accountable from the moment the word is mouthed. Minutes do not recall more than 5% of what is actually said in Council.
So with more and more meetings being deferred to subcommittees and with minutes only recording the resolutions but not the debate, it is becoming easier and easier for elected officials to have their true views lost in the ether of public accountability.
I say all meetings should be recorded and the meeting uploaded for Pod cast to anyone who is interested to hear. This for example, means applicants or those wanting the words, but who cannot sit around all afternoon, can access the debate at any time. This would for example, in the case of the print and radio press, open up rich pickings in terms of public accountability. The recordings are a double edge sword, in so far as they prevent the media making up statements by councilors, when short hand can’t cope.
It’s a simple idea I promote and any windows enabled computer can easily record sound these days and with Cairns already good operational sound management, I will be pushing for all debates to be recorded and made available online. This would not have been easily possible before recent bandwidth expansions, but as we are all now living on an information superhighway, its time all council debate was made available to the public.
Cairns refusal to release public documents in the public gallery is something that should be reconsidered, as the ability and access to download some of those huge files is prohibitive. The public own the information, so don’t hold it back and then shred them after a few hours use.
I also disagree with the attempts in Douglas (and where I hear similar stories ex CCC) to filter and manage all political dissemination of issues Council.
A council is not a corporation, despite some bureaucrats having aspirations of corporate efficiency. I have done my corporate stint and at age 29, I was invited out of executive ranks to board rooms, where our enterprise was turning over 5 times the daily spend of Cairns City Council. In either a private or public company, the agenda is about profit, not community service. The rules of the corporate game are different and where a corporation has every right to massage its media releases, I would argue this is not the case in open government. Just as we see opposition spokesmen arguing their views, an accountable democracy affords a range of views and gags on alternative views through media management are to my way of thinking, wrong.
I also believe press should have access to senior staff on matters of fact, and I oppose gagging of staff, especially when the press is often simply trying to find out the dates, names and issues. The press has a pretty thin chance of understanding the issues by simply attending the gallery to watch a rubber stamping stampede. TV, radio, print and online press need to see an opening up of access, both here in Douglas now and also in Cairns from March 2008.

CONTACT ROD DAVIS: vote@roddavis.org

MOBILE: 0418 235561 or HOME: 0740 994434

MAIL: PO BOX 714, Port Douglas, 4877.